Today I had the joy of picking up a parcel that had been mailed to us, and experienced another process in the Philippines (like our toaster story of many months ago). We received a notice in our mail box last Friday that a parcel was ready for pick up at the Makati Post Office. This notice was on stock printed in 1979 (that is what it said in the bottom corner - I am not making that up) Hmmm....should have been my first clue that this was going to be interesting!
This was my first trip to the actual post office. Easy to find, and from the outside it looks like it was built in the 1950s, when most of the Ayala neighbourhood was first built. When I walked in I realized that the inside had not changed since the 50s. The original hand painted signs were hanging over the extensive counter areas indicating what happened where. There was no technology in sight.
I went to the "Parcel" area, and handed my notice to man #1. He checked my identification and recorded it on the notice. He signed the notice and then I signed the notice. He handed my back the notice and waved me to man #2.
I handed the notice to man #2, who looked it over and received my 40 peso payment (just over $1.00 Canadian). He wrote a receipt for the 40 pesos, and put the original notice in a box. With my receipt in hand, I was waved over to another man, man #3.
Man #3 took my receipt and headed into the back warehouse area (that we could all see into) and searched for my parcel. When he returned, he asked if he could open it. (As an aside, my heart was warmed to see Canada Post identification on the parcel!) I had noticed that all of the parcels picked up before mine were opened so I said sure. He fought with the bubble wrap for a bit (scissors were nowhere in sight), and once opened, called over man #4 who had just been standing leaning against a wall. This man looked at the contents. Not sure what he discovered because the items were all wrapped in Christmas paper.
Things must have been okay because he picked up my original notice from the box where man #2 had placed it and passed the parcel and this notice to man #5. This man had an immense ledger book. He found the notice number in his ledger, added some details to the line in the ledger, and had me sign the ledger. I was then free to go with my parcel.
So - two signatures and five men later, I was on my way, chuckling as I went.
Oh, and as I left I realized that this was the only place in Makati (or metro Manila, or most of the Philippines) that I had been that did NOT have any security at all. Go figure...
Ah, the Philippines!
Love you all (and the postal system in Canada)
enjoy this shot of the wiring even in Makati central business district!
